by Kristy Dallas Alley
Published on May 26, 2020 by Swoon Reads
Format: ARC
Pages: 272
Genres: Dystopian, Young Adult
Raised in isolation at Heavenly Shepherd, her family’s trailer-dealership-turned-survival compound, Ami Miles knows that she was lucky to be born into a place of safety after the old world ended and the chaos began. But when her grandfather arranges a marriage to a cold-eyed stranger, she realizes that her “destiny” as one of the few females capable of still bearing children isn’t something she’s ready to face.
With the help of one of her aunts, she flees the only life she’s ever known, and sets off on a quest to find her long-lost mother (and hopefully a mate of her own choosing). But as she journeys, Ami discovers many new things about the world... and about herself.
Oh my, I didn’t like this book. It’s pretty rare that I don’t have anything good to say about a book, and I don’t like doing that, so while I type this review I’m going to try and find at least one good thing to say. But that might be hard, because I really didn’t like The Ballad of Ami Miles.
The first thing I noticed, after a few pages into Ami Miles, was the utter lack of world building. Okay, so it’s obviously the US after some bad stuff happened and now it’s all a bit of a wasteland. But give me more. I’ve read that story before, so many times! Give me something to make it unique, to force my mind to picture it vividly. Women can’t have children anymore? Details! Things are worse outside of Ami’s sanctuary? Show me how bad it is? This is the kind of detail I need in world building right away, or my brain shuts off and I get distracted. Nothing in this world stood out, made me want to keep reading to learn more. By the time I was a third of the way in it still hadn’t gotten any better.
And then there’s Ami Miles, the titular heroine. I wanted to like her, I really did and I tried. But good grief, there was no voice. She was in a bad situation, had been brain washed her entire life, knew virtually nothing about the outside world she was being thrust out to. But reading her character, going through all of that, she was stiff as a board. There was no spark, nothing that made me root for her other than a general sense of, “Well, yeah, that situation sucks.” And the “villains” were obviously the villains, trying to force some actually horrible things on Ami, but I never felt a sense of urgency. I was told they were bad, but never fully shown. It was frustrating to read.
Ok, so, have I come up with anything good to say. Maybe the second half was better? I don’t know, I didn’t stick around to find out. I think if you’re really missing dystopian, like really missing it, you could maybe like this one. It reminded me a little of the vibe I got from Chaos Walking, but I didn’t think it was nearly the same quality. I say this for every book though, and The Ballad of Ami Miles is no exception: if the synopsis sounds good to you, give it a try. Where’s the harm in that?
About Katie
I'm a twenty-something aspiring writer who really, really needs to get back to revisions. I've been reviewing books since 2014, and am determined to somehow make stories my day job. I truly think that every book out there contains something good and is meant for somebody.
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